Changes underway at Niagara EMS
Paramedic service adjusting to increased call volumes
Niagara Emergency Medical Services could be offering advice over the phone for some 911 callers rather than a ride to the emergency department.
Quality assurance commander Karen Lutz-Graul said changes being implemented to Niagara EMS are designed to enhance services for patients, while also addressing a 45.6 per cent increase in call volume since 2011, with calls expected to exceed 100,000 within eight years.
Another change includes teaming paramedics up with other health professionals.
“What we’re really trying to understand is why people are calling us so frequently just to know if they need to call us, if that makes sense to you,” LutzGraul said. “And sometimes, people call 911 and say, ‘I’m not really sure if I need an ambulance, but.’ We’re trying to really address the ‘but.’”
For instance, she said, people sometimes call for ambulances with minor injuries or illness that don’t require a visit to emergency departments. And rather than just transporting those patients to emergency departments, she said EMS may instead offer “things that we can help with that might meet their needs better.”
The changes are being rolled out in three phases.
The first phase, which is underway, places paramedics in “multidisciplinary integrated health teams” allowing them to better respond to specific types of 911 calls. Mental health and addictions teams will include paramedics, mental health nurses and outreach workers, while “fall intervention teams” will include occupational therapists.
A co-ordinated assessment response unit has also been established, working closely with Local Health Integration Network staff to address unmet needs of patients, with no priority symptoms.
Lutz-Graul said the next two phases — including the addition of an emergency communication nurse at the Niagara Ambulance Communications Centre; and the use of a new clinical response model that will enable paramedics to better address patient needs — will both be launched at the start of next year.
Meanwhile, Niagara EMS has teamed up with Brock University’s health sciences department to conduct a survey to determine the community’s perception of Niagara EMS.
The survey can be completed
online at niagararegion.ca/ems.
Lutz-Graul said the changes are part of “a whole system transformation.”
“It’s not just EMS changing, it’s us approaching our community partners like the LHIN and the hospital, and saying ‘This is what we’re seeing, come and do this work with us.’ We’re not the experts in some if these things so we’re so grateful that we have our system partners that are contributing their staff to come help us do this work.”
The transition could also help resolve offload delays paramedics are facing, freeing them up to respond to other emergencies.
Last year, crowded emergency departments meant paramedics spent 15,438 hours waiting to drop off patients, and the number has continued to increase throughout 2018.
“It’s really trying to address actual needs and if people aren’t calling us for major emergencies, why do we have to send and ambulance with two paramedics, when maybe they just need advice, or they just need someone to address their questions, really.”